Monthly Archives: February 2024

24th February 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Huddersfield Town 2

Watford Observer: ‘Expect to see a difference’ this afternoon

https://www.skysports.com/football/watford-vs-huddersfield-town/teams/485109

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Sky: Andre Breitenreiter got off to a winning start as Huddersfield boss thanks to Danny Ward’s brace from the bench, which gave the visitors a 2-1 victory after Emmanuel Dennis had opened the scoring for Watford.

BBC: With the home faithful getting restless, Ismael made a double change after just 26 minutes with Tom Ince and Giorgi Chakvetadze brought off the bench.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Huddersfield 2

Woeful Watford suffer another dismal defeat to Huddersfield

‘I picked two players but it actually could have been changing all of the 11’

Ismael points at mentality: it was nothing physical, technical or tactical

Ismael discusses if he thinks he made mistakes – and Andrews on the bench again

Does Ismael fear the sack? Did he understand the boos at Vicarage Road?

BHappy: For the first time this season we’ve stopped looking like a team, and if it’s difficult to quiet the whisper at the back of the mind suggesting that this might have been on the cards as soon as Dennis came back, there’s no doubt that Val is now under pressure.  How this pans out will shed light on the permanence of our commitment to a little bit more patience with bumps in the road, but given the poisonous air to yesterday’s performance I must confess to a degree of concern that events might have overtaken me before I got to the end of this report.

Fran’s Watford Blog: There was 8 minutes of added time for those who were still inside Vicarage Road.  It was largely devoid of incident apart from when Martins played a lovely through ball for Andrews whose low cross was easily gathered by Nicholls.  So, the Hornets fell to a poor defeat against a struggling side and those that were still in the ground let the players know what they thought about the performance. A number of the players headed straight back to the dressing room, but Hoedt rounded up those that he could and told them to applaud the fans.  He looked furious.

17th February 2024- Championship, Rotherham United 0 Watford 1

https://www.skysports.com/football/rotherham-united-vs-watford/teams/485094

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Sky: Watford gave their season the much-needed boost it required with a 1-0 win at struggling Rotherham.

BBC: Yaser Asprilla’s stunning second half strike was enough to secure the three points and lift the Hornets to 11th in the Championship.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Rotherham 0 Watford 1

Three points meant Watford were able to put lipstick on a rottweiler

Ismael: ‘Our focus was all about the result’

Players had been discussing the need for a clean sheet

Fran’s Watford Blog: It was another disappointing performance from the Hornets.  Ismaël said post-match that the win was the most important thing and, while it was great to end our losing streak, a bit of entertainment would have been appreciated.  What entertainment there was mostly came from Asprilla who scored his second wonder goal in a week.  As soon as the ball dropped to him, he (and we) knew that he was going to hit the net.  The first 55 minutes had been quiet, and things livened up when Chakvetadze came on, he isn’t afraid to take a defender on and the first booking of the game was a direct result of him being a menace.  Ismaël has explained that Andrews is fatigued, so he is limiting his game time, but I think we miss his attacking abilities as well. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68259657

13th February 2024- Championship, Norwich City 4 Watford 2

https://www.skysports.com/football/norwich-city-vs-watford/teams/485077

WFC.Net Goal Commentary: 1  2

Sky: Norwich recovered from losing a two-goal lead to beat Watford 4-2 at Carrow Road and maintain their Championship play-off push.

BBC: The Canaries scored twice in the space of eight first-half minutes, with Ashley Barnes putting them ahead and Josh Sargent doubling their lead. Mileta Rajovic pulled a goal back shortly before half-time and Yaser Asprilla equalised with a spectacular second-half strike, only for Norwich to respond with goals from Gabriel Sara and Christian Fassnacht.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The Hornets started very poorly and looked dead and buried when Norwich scored their second.  The goal from Rajović sparked a mini-revival and the wonder goal from Asprilla was worth the price of admission on its own, but it was another poor defensive display from the Hornets that let them down and led to a scoreline that flattered the hosts and brought our unbeaten away run to an end.  We now have a run of games against teams who are below us in the table.  I hope that we see an improvement in those, or we are in for a very trying end to the season.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68212932

10th February 2024- Championship, Watford 1 Leicester City 2

Forgive me for being self indulgent for a moment but the programme featured Old Watford on the Fantasy League page.

https://www.skysports.com/football/watford-vs-leicester-city/teams/485073

WFC.Net goal commentary: 1

Sky: Patson Daka set Leicester on course for a 2-1 win against Watford at Vicarage Road that maintained their 11-point lead at the top of the Sky Bet Championship.

BBC: And, when Ricardo Pereira struck after the break, Enzo Maresca’s side looked to be cruising. Emmanuel Dennis’ first goal since his return to Watford set up an exciting finish, but Leicester held on.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 1 Leicester 2

Positives in defeat as Hornets beaten by leaders

‘I’m really proud of the players’ – Ismael

Dennis back on the scoresheet but don’t expect him to start on Tuesday

Hornets didn’t show their quality in the final third says Porteous

BHappy: We had speculated in the first half as Leicester keeper Mads Hermansen confidently persisted in positioning himself to the right of the area as Leicester built from the back, almost in the Porteous position alongside Wout Faes’ Wesley Hoedt to give his side another progressive passing option, that we hoped that they would stick with this when Dennis and all his hurlyburly tasmanian devil aggression was introduced.  What we hadn’t expected at all was that Dennis wouldn’t need to ambush anybody – instead he was the grateful recipient of a negligent back pass from Harry Winks.  With his back to an empty goal, he had to accommodate that the pass was struck without the energy to run past him and set up a shot at goal – indeed, Leicester Paul later speculated that Winks mistook Dennis for his goalkeeper, still in the Porteous position and perhaps unadvisedly sporting a yellowish green.  Whilst quietly acknowledging that neither of our regular starting centre forwards could have been relied upon to capitalise on the gift there was nonetheless much to commend in Dennis dragging the ball into a shooting position and sending it beyond the despairing recovery dive of the returning goalkeeper.  

Fran’s Watford Blog: The Hornets threatened again as Dennis prodded the ball to Ince whose effort was well over the bar.  The visitors then made a double substitution as Fatawu and Praet were replaced by Mavididi and Choudhury, whose entrance was met by the odd boo, but mostly applause from the Watford faithful.  The Hornets continued to search for the equaliser as Ince found Asprilla in space, his shot from distance took a wicked deflection and flew just wide of the target.  Following the corner, the ball dropped to Hoedt at the far post whose snatched shot was straight at the keeper.  There was seven minutes of added time, during which Vardy and Hoedt were booked after a foul by the Leicester man was followed by him winding Wesley up.  The only shot in added time was a weak effort from Mavididi that flew wide of the far post.  The final whistle went to boos for the referee but warm applause for the efforts of the players.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68189950

6th February 2024- FA Cup Fourth Round Replay, Southampton 3 Watford 0

Attendance: 17,844

BBC: Sekou Mara’s double strike helped Southampton to a comfortable FA Cup replay win against Watford that sets up a tie against Liverpool at Anfield.

Watford Observer: Dennis stays behind as the rest of the squad heads south

RECAP: Southampton 3 Watford 0

Cup exit follows transfer window in offering no encouragement

Squad depth and size still not a problem for Ismael

Fran’s Watford Blog: It was another poor performance from the Hornets.  Maybe things would have been different had the shot from Koné dipped under the bar but generally they had been shot shy, having only a single shot on target, and as soon as the home side scored there was only one winner.  The Watford players have often been careless with their passing this season, but they were particularly bad in the second half of this game as, time after time, the ball was given away allowing the home side to attack.  The only positive of the evening, apart from meeting some lovely people in the WoW group, was that I don’t think any of us really wanted a trip to Liverpool.  Much as I love that city, it is soul destroying being thrashed at Anfield.

3rd February 2024- Championship, Watford 0 Cardiff City 1

Sky: A stunning Josh Bowler strike two minutes before half-time gave Cardiff a 1-0 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road. Bowler held off one Watford player, cut inside another and sent a delightful curler beyond the outstretched hand of Ben Hamer and into the far corner.

BBC: Cardiff suffered some nervy moments in the second half but Watford’s best effort saw Ismael Kone hit the post.

Watford Observer: RECAP: Watford 0 Cardiff 1

Poor Hornets suffer Cardiff defeat

Never mind the nice stuff, Watford need to get nasty admits head coach

BHappy: Cardiff were utterly unremarkable, the grey sludge of mid-table nothingness;  until they scored there was nothing to suggest that they were anything other than there to be put out of their misery.  Thereafter they justified their averageness by looking far better at defending a lead – competitive, pretty organised, robust – than they had at creating one.  Nonetheless, this was a game that we had no business losing.  “We would have lost that one last season” has been a popular mantra in this campaign…  for the first time in a while, we lost one of those games in this one too.

Fran’s Watford Blog: I thought the boos at the end of the game were harsh, but that is possibly because there had been some entertainment on show in contrast to Wednesday.  But it was another disappointing performance in a game that was won by a moment of quality from the opposition.  The Hornets created a number of chances but were let down by poor finishing.  The positive of the afternoon was that Dennis looked very bright and showed moments that may justify the high expectations that many fans have had on his return.  We have come out of a really good run of form when the football was fun again, so the downturn is disappointing and the thought of the upcoming games against Southampton and Leicester is filling me with dread rather than excitement.  Let’s hope that my pessimism is misplaced.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/table